AbstractUltrasound contrast agents consist of coated gas microbubbles (1-10 μm in diameter). In an ultrasound field, microbubbles vibrate on the order of a million times per second, which can be recorded by unique ultrafast high-speed cameras (recordings will be shown during the seminar). It is the vibration of the microbubble that provides enhanced signal for imaging and induces bioeffects such as microbubble-mediated drug uptake. Targeted gas microbubbles can bind to biomarkers associated with disease through coating-incorporated ligands, making ultrasound molecular imaging possible. Our research focuses on the lipid coating of targeted microbubbles to get insight into which characteristics are most important for ultrasound molecular imaging and drug delivery to non-invasively assess and treat a disease.

BiographyKlazina Kooiman studied Bio-pharmaceutical Sciences at Leiden University, the Netherlands, and obtained her M.Sc. degree cum laude specializing in pharmaceutical technology. From 2005 to 2010, she was a Ph.D. student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering of the Thoraxcenter, ErasmusMC, the Netherlands. On January 19, 2011, she obtained her Ph.D. degree on the topic of ultrasound contrast agents for therapy. She currently holds a postdoctoral position in the Department of Biomedical Engineering of the Thoraxcenter, ErasmusMC, focusing on using ultrasound contrast agents for drug delivery and molecular imaging. She was awarded the ICIN Fellowship 2012 which enabled her to perform research at the Center for Ultrasound Molecular Imaging and Therapy at UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Recently, she was awarded a Veni-grant, one of the most prestigious personal grants from NWO, the Dutch Scientific Organisation. She has published 17 peer reviewed papers and has an H-index of 9.